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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25459183">crash and burn</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/afjakwrites/pseuds/afjakwrites'>afjakwrites</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>bad things happen bingo [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Broken Bones, Car Accidents, Established Relationship, F/F, Hospitals, Major Character Injury, Protective Azula (Avatar), azula isn't evil (anymore)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:07:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,161</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25459183</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/afjakwrites/pseuds/afjakwrites</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Azula and Ty Lee get into an accident.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Azula &amp; Iroh (Avatar), Azula &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>bad things happen bingo [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1844080</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>140</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Bad Things Happen Bingo</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>crash and burn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>my first piece for the bad things happen bingo!! i'm so sorry azula and ty lee i love u both &lt;3</p><p>this is a modern/high school au. azula has already been redeemed in this fic and lives with iroh and zuko.</p><p>find me on my blog @ afjakwrites on tumblr!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Azula isn’t sure what happened, at first. Last she remembers, she’s on the back of Ty Lee’s moped, her arms wrapped around her girlfriend’s waist, her chin on her shoulder. They can’t be going more than thirty miles an hour, but it feels like they’re flying. Azula is free and happy and in<em> love,</em> all new emotions to her. She doesn’t know exactly when she started to feel at peace with her life (probably around the time she moved in with Zuko and Iroh, she thinks absently), but she knows she doesn’t want it to end. </p><p>She squeezes Ty Lee’s waist a little tighter when they stop at a stoplight. Then, in a rare display of uninhibited adoration, Azula declares, “you look pretty today.”</p><p>They’re both wearing helmets so Azula can’t see her girlfriend’s face, but there’s a smile in her voice when she replies. “Aw, so do you! Although, you look pretty every day.”</p><p>The light changes before Azula can reply and the moped jolts back into motion. They’ve only just entered the intersection when she hears the screech of a car’s tires screaming on the asphalt. She manages to whip her head around, her amber eyes catching on the rapidly advancing blur of black just before it slams into them. She thinks she hears Ty Lee scream as they’re thrown into the air and instinctively tightens her arms around her. They hit the pavement with a resounding <em>smack</em>, sliding against the coarse ground for a moment before coming to a stop. </p><p>The pain blinds Azula to the world around her. The skin of her exposed arms stings with raw hurt, and the one trapped beneath Ty Lee is on <em> fire.</em> Her right leg is bent at an awkward angle, and when Azula tries to shift her weight even the slightest bit the pain is so excruciating that she lets out a pathetic, shaky cry of pain without really meaning to. </p><p>People are already gathering around her and Ty Lee, frantically calling out to them. Azula moves the arm that’s not trapped under Ty Lee and, finding it relatively unharmed, attempts to hook her shaking fingers beneath her helmet and tug it off. Everything suddenly feels too stuffy, she needs fresh air, she needs to get this damned thing off and <em> breathe. </em></p><p>“Honey, it’s okay, don’t move, we’ve got someone calling the paramedics,” a shaky female voice says from beside Azula. </p><p>“Take this off for me, then!” Azula snaps. She means to sound intimidating, but her voice is too weak and shaky to make the sort of impression she wants. </p><p>Despite her command, Azula still flinches when she feels the helmet being tugged off, far too slowly for her liking. She knows the woman is just trying to be gentle, but right now all she wants to do is scream at her to go faster, to <em> fucking help her</em>—! </p><p>Fresh air bombards Azula the second the helmet is off and she takes several desperate, gasping breaths in. Disorientation slams into her, and suddenly she feels like vomiting. She twists away from Ty Lee as much as she can with her arm still trapped beneath her girlfriend’s body and empties her stomach onto the pavement, much to her dismay. The woman is still kneeling beside her, holding her hair back and trying to assure her that everything is going to be alright. If she wasn’t in so much pain, Azula would slap her hands away. </p><p>When the dizziness has finally cleared away and Azula feels a bit more like herself, a realization strikes her. Ty Lee has been laying limp in her arms, still and silent this whole time. Adrenaline shoots through Azula like a bolt of lightning, and suddenly she’s shouting her girlfriend’s name, using her good arm to shake the girl’s shoulder until the woman snatches her hand away and tells her not to move her too much. </p><p>“Take her helmet off,” Azula orders, letting her hand fall. Every passing second that Ty Lee lays still at her side makes her feel even more panicked. “Take her helmet off! Let me s-see her face!” Azula screams hoarsely, tears budding in her eyes. </p><p>The world is closing in on her. Black edges into her vision, and her breath starts to come out in short, shallow pants. Her throat burns, her eyes burn, her body <em> burns</em>, but she keeps screaming. She needs to know that Ty Lee is <em> safe, please, fuck, she doesn’t deserve this, Ty Lee's never done anything wrong, take her instead, pleasepleaseplease— </em></p><p>The panic and the pain and the fear are a vast ocean. Azula’s eyes roll back. She falls into its roaring waves and is lost. </p><hr/><p>When she wakes up, Iroh and Zuko are there. Father is not. Ty Lee isn't, either.</p><p>Iroh has Azula’s uninjured hand clasped in his, and there are dried tear tracks on his face. Zuko is seated at his side, a hand on their Uncle’s shoulder, staring grimly down at Azula’s prone form. They don’t seem to notice that she’s even awake until she weakly squeezes Iroh’s hand, at which point the man gasps and jerks his head up to meet her eyes. </p><p>“Azula!” He exclaims in a rush of breath. “How are you feeling?”</p><p>Her mouth feels dry and cottony. Her tongue is numb. “Like shit,” she rasps, looking around the room. “Where's Ty Lee?”</p><p>“She’s alright,” Zuko tells her in a soft voice, as though she’s something fragile. “Her family is with her now. They think you cushioned her fall; the worst of her injuries was a broken rib, but it didn’t puncture anything. She has a few torn ligaments, road rash, a sprained ankle...” Zuko pauses when he sees Azula’s distress and frowns in sympathy. “She’s going to be okay,” he reassures. </p><p>“I know that,” Azula snaps, though she hadn’t, hating to feel patronized.</p><p>She thinks back to Ty Lee’s body laying motionless in her arms and her heart clenches painfully. Tears of gratitude spring to her eyes as she silently thanks all that is holy for Ty Lee's safety. Iroh quickly reaches out to wipe them away, apparently unwilling to relinquish her good hand. <em> Ty Lee is okay </em>. The relief in that simple statement is astounding. </p><p>“What about you?” Iroh asks her as he dabs a tissue over her pale cheeks. “How are you feeling?”</p><p>Azula pauses to observe herself. Her right arm is in a sling at her side, and her right leg is in a cast, elevated several inches above the bed. The painkillers she’s on still seem to be in effect, because the most pain she feels is a dull ache in her head. </p><p>“Tired,” she tells him with a heavy sigh. Now that she’s spoken the words out loud, she feels the weight of her exhaustion like an anvil pressing into her chest.</p><p>Iroh nods gently and squeezes her hand again. “Rest,” he murmurs. </p><p>For once, Azula does as she’s told without a fight.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>lmk if i should write more of these two/this au! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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